FicWad

I was locked up in the hospital for another long week before the doctors finally decided I was well enough to leave. Spending a whole week at the hospital had been like being stuck in a hellhole. The food there was old and stale, I was constantly hooked up to different machine that monitored different levels of things in my body, and the worst part was that there wasn't much privacy. Anyone could walk in on you at any moment. However, my friends definitely helped the time past by much more quickly.

To my surprise, Lars actually came to visit me four out of the seven days while I was at the hospital. When he came to visit, he would talk to me for a few minutes and then sit down quietly by my bed and work on the lyrics for his songs for "Ride the Lightning". One time when I was feeling kind of brave, I decided to ask him why he had canceled the upcoming shows for me. Our conversation went something like this. I was lying on the bed as usual and had asked, "Um, Lars?" Lars had looked up from the music he had his nose buried in to meet me eyes questioningly. Already losing my nerve to talk to him, I quickly asked, "Why did you cancel the upcoming shows? I mean, I wouldn't have minded if you guys continued on with the shows."

Lars had looked thoughtful for a while before he answered my question. When he did speak, his voice was unusually kind and gentle, "There's no point in continuing the shows when we don't have all our band members. You're a member in a different sort of sense, Olivia. Nobody would be able to concentrate on the shows while you were at the hospital by yourself. James obviously loves you to the point of insanity and Kirk has become quite attached to you as well."

That had been the end of our conversation, but it had left me wondering about a lot of things. I had never ever guessed that Lars would consider me part of the band. After all, he had been the one who had been trying to get me to leave the band for so long. I guess he had finally realized that I was a human with feelings too. It was a change in Lars that was definitely for the better.

Anyways, back to my stay at the hospital. Like I said, Lars came to visit me occasionally and so did Cliff. When Cliff came over, he didn't really say much. Cliff was one of those people who didn't talk unless he found it necessary to do so. However, despite our lack of conversation, I didn't find him sitting with me at the hospital awkward at all. Cliff would sit in the chair next to my bed, hold my hand, and bury his head in one of those novels he was always reading. Cliff's presence was very comforting to me. He just had a calm around him that he transferred to me. It made me relax and I usually found myself sleepiest when Cliff was around.

James came around everyday after his first visit to me in the hospital. He would come over, talk with me, sit with me, and sometimes make out with me if nobody was around. I enjoyed my times with James the most of all, but I still found that it was kind of hard to enjoy any time I spent at the hospital. There were a few more people in the hospital bedroom now too and that sort of freaked me out. I didn't know who they were, but I didn't like sleeping in a room with sick strangers.

Kirk was the only one who stayed at the hospital constantly. I don't think he ever left the hospital once since I had been committed there. He was always ready to do anything for me. Sometimes he brought me food, sometimes he sat with me, sometimes he told jokes, and when he was really tired, he would sleep in one of the unoccupied hospital beds next to me. I had to admit that I was somewhat surprised by Kirk's devotion to me. True, we were definitely friends, but even the best of friends didn't usually do things like this. I decided that it was a rare relationship I had with Kirk and I would do anything to keep it in tact.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to me, I was finally dismissed from the hospital. The unfortunate part was that I was still really weak and just about needed help with everything. I never even witnessed being brought back to the hotel from the hospital because I fell asleep before Kirk and James came to get me.

When I finally awoke, I found myself in an unfamiliar bed all by myself. Not sure where I was, I looked around and tried to take in my surroundings. Apparently, I was in a room with two beds, a small wooden table at one end, and a few pictures of flowers were hung on the walls. Looking around my closely, I could see three black suitcases and clothes scattered all over the floor. It didn't take me long to figure out that I was finally out of the hospital and back with the guys. The only question was: where exactly were the guys? They certainly didn't seem to be in this room.

Wondering where they could possibly be, I decided that I would try to get up and go find them. Unfortunately, I had only moved slightly before I felt a pang erupt from my stomach. Grimacing with the pain, I flopped back in bed. I guessed I was still too weak to move around by myself. That sucked, but there wasn't much I could do to make myself get better.

Just when I was wondering what I was suppose to do while waiting for the guys, the door to the hotel room flew open and four laughing figures entered. James quickly looked over to my bed and gave me a smile of relief, "You're finally up! It's about time! You missed the whole ride from the hospital to here last night. For a moment, I thought you had died on the trip here!"

"I'm not dead, but I'm really hungry," I explained, making a face at James. "My stomach kills. Please tell me you guys have something to eat with you?" Cliff and Lars had already plopped down on a tattered burgundy couch and were looking over some music. Kirk was digging through his suitcase and James was the only one who was paying any attention to me.

"Oh yeah, we have food here," James quickly reassure me. James opened the little refridgerator at one far corner of the room and riffled through it for a moment before he grabbed a little tub of something or the other. After grabbing the tub, James picked up a plastic spoon from the counter and hurried back over to where I was sitting motionless on the bed. He flopped onto the bed next to me and arranged himself into a sitting position. I could tell James had just gotten up because his blonde locks were still damp and stringy. He also smelled pretty good too. Much better than whatever was in the tub.

"What's in there?" I asked suspiciously, pointing at the tub with distaste. Seeing the apprehensive look I was giving it, James shook his head in a parental fashion and said, "It's your breakfast. Don't give me that look! I'm not the one who's forcing you to eat it. The doctors said that you had to eat it for a few days until your stomach heals up completely."

"My stomach is fine," I quickly lied as James opened the tub. Inside, were watery, whitish lumps. It looked kind of like a mix of yogurt and milk. Wrinkling up my nose, I turned away from it and crossed my arms deliberately over my chest as I announced to the whole world, "I don't care what the doctors say. I'm not eating that shit."

"Oh, come on, Olive!" James tried to persuade me. Then noticing that the other guys weren't paying attention, James leaned close to me and whispered in my ear, "The sooner you eat, the sooner I can kick the rest of the guys out and we can have the whole bed to ourselves." There was a double meaning to that sentence and I instantly found I was willing to eat the white mush.

Now convinced to eat it, I reached out a hand for the spoon, "Okay, fine, I'll eat the crap. Give me the spoon." To my surprise, James pulled the spoon away from me and shook his head. Not sure what was up with that, I gave him a puzzled look. Two minutes ago, he had been begging me to eat and now he was refusing to give me the spoon. Great.

"I'm suppose to feed you," James said a-matter-of-factly, trying not to smile. I almost choked and looked at him in utter shock, "What the hell? I'm not a two-year-old! I can feed myself just fine, thank you very much! Now hand me that fucking spoon before I injure myself more trying to get the goddamn thing from you!" I may be sick, but I wasn't going to be treated like a baby.

Before I could go diving after the spoon, Kirk looked up from his suitcase and gave me a rueful smile, "Actually, the doctor really did say that someone else should feed you. You're suppose to move as little as possible when you eat." I tried glaring at Kirk, but found it was not possible to glare at someone with such gorgeous brown eyes. Making a face, I said, "So I suppose I'm not even allowed to swallow then, huh? This really sucks. I don't know if I trust you to do this, James."

James looked hurt for a moment and then gave me puppy eyes, "Aw, you trust me, Olive. You know you do. Come on, let's get this over with quickly." James dunked the spoon into the mush and pushed the spoon towards my mouth. I looked from him to the spoon, still hesitant. James rolled his eyes and said, "Come on! It's not that hard. Just open your mouth for god's sake!"

Deciding that it couldn't be too hard, I opened my mouth and led James slip the spoon in between my lips. It was a very strange sensation to be fed by someone else's hand. I mean, I hadn't been fed like this for years! It was kind of crazy. However, I was in a hurry to finish the meal so James would keep his promise and spend some time in the bed with me. I had been craving him for the long week at the doctor's office and could now finally be alone with him.

James spooned me two more spoonfuls of the mush which I swallowed obediently. To be honest, the mush didn't taste horrible, but it didn't taste good either. It was kind of flavorless. After three bites, I decided I had had enough of the mush. When James spooned me out another spoonful, I shook my head and made a face, "I'm full now. That stuff isn't all that great. I'll eat more later. In the meantime, you can put that crappy stuff away and then come back over here."

James paused for a moment, weighing his options. After a moment, he frowned and said, "Sorry, Olivia, but you're suppose to eat more than that. Just take a few more spoonfuls." James attempted to shove the spoon into my mouth, but I shoved it away, causing the mush to splatter all over. Some of the shit blobs landed on James' nose and the rest of it landed onto my neck and slid down my shirt, chilling me to the bone. Damn, I hadn't meant to spill the stuff all over!

I looked over at James to see if he was mad. Surprisingly enough, he was anything but mad. Instead, he was looking at me in amusement as the last white clump slipped down my neck and under my shirt. Looking James over, I found that he looked pretty funny too. He had a big white blob sliding down his forehead and another one sliding down his cheek. Before we knew it, the two of us were laughing and the prospect of me eating more of the mush was promptly forgotten.

"So," I said when I was able to catch my breath, "What do we do now that we've got this crap all over us? Let me guess; the doctors said I'm not allowed to take showers until I'm stronger, right?" James thought for a moment and then slowly nodded his head. Slowly, a nasty grin came over his face, "I can think of a better way to clean you up."

"Oh really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. James nodded, "Yeah, really." With that, he leaned over me, pushed me lightly onto my back, and then started undoing the buttons on the shirt I was wearing.